Parents urged to support artistic children

RENOWNED producer and multi-instrumentalist Clive “Mono” Mukundu has challenged parents and schools to support and nurture children’s artistic talents that could become the saving grace for pupils who are not academically gifted.

BY ANESU MUSHAWATU

Mukundu slammed the old “colonial” system that stressed the importance of academics over sport and arts.

The producer said he went to schools where corporal punishment was regarded as the solution to pupils who fared poorly in their studies.

“The mentality that these schools engraved in us is that one ought to be good in Maths and afterwards, work for the whites, whose children they treated like kings, while we suffered from the sjamboks,” he said.

Mukundu said using corporal punishment was not a solution, as it seriously dented children’s confidence in themselves and nurtured a stubborn spirit.

“I hated school with a passion, and by the time I got to secondary school, I started resisting, I was always in the headmaster’s office, and I won the cases even though my parent’s divorce contributed to the anger I had. I was now a reggae fanatic, listening to all the ‘stand up for your rights’ music,” he said.

Mukundu said his son, Takakunda, a Prince Edward High School student who is also a rising session guitarist, has never absconded school because it nurtured his talent.

“Children from such schools are already making a living with music. Some are (now) music teachers (and) my son is one of the busiest session guitarists right now, getting paid good money,” he said.

Mono encouraged parents to be their children’s cheerleaders of they are artistically gifted.